Trust the ingenuity of owners and operators of Public Services Vehicles in Nairobi in their endless fetish for on board entertainment.
Screening live football matches, it seems, is the latest fad for some of these matatu operators. And why not, given Kenyans’ obsessions with the English Premier League?
Nairobi News understands that a number of matatus in town service have had DSTV and GOtv decoders fitted as per the rising demand of their passengers.
“Most of the times, our customers keep telling us to rush because they want to catch Arsenal and Manchester United games. Now we are telling them there is no rush. You can watch the matches on board as you travel home or wherever, and at no extra cost,” Phillip Njunge, a matatu crew member told Nairobi News.
One such matatu which is fitted with the decoder plies the Mombasa/Jogoo road-Pipeline-CBD route.
The matatu, christened Royal Swift, has three six screens, including a large 40 inch at the back specifically for the comfort of the 33 passengers with three more screens for the passengers in the driver’s cabin.
The driver has one of the screens specifically for surveillance of what is happening inside the matatu.
“We show the EPL and KPL games mainly on Saturdays and Sundays,” the matatu driver who didn’t wish to be named, explained.
Besides the football, passengers in the matatu can also sample the latest music videos. For good measure, there is also free Wi-fi for all the passengers on board, with the password displayed at the front of the vehicle.
Fitting all these gadgets in the vehicle, otherwise known as “pimping”, costs about Sh300,000, according to Njunge.
So now you have no reason to rush the matatu ride just to get home in time for that game of football. You can actually catch all the action inside a matatu!
